Recent content by Paul Ewing

  1. Paul Ewing

    Feeding meaties..ORGANIC/GMO free??

    I have just switched to a GMO Free, No Soy, and No Corn feed for my pigs and meat chickens. This was a big decision because of the cost increase. I am paying $19/bag from broiler feed and $16/bag for pig feed in six ton deliveries. The broiler feed is 22% protein and I plan on using it till...
  2. Paul Ewing

    Delaware's for Meat

    I did some experiments with heritage breed cockerels as meat birds at the request of people wanting something besides Cornish Cross birds. They wanted a "natural" heritage breed because of all the marketing the slow food types have done against the Cornish Cross. Well I delivered these...
  3. Paul Ewing

    Corndells Extinct?

    The January/February issue of APPPA Grit leads with an interview with Tim Shell about the Corndel and breeding and raising commercial meat breeds on pasture. The article alone is probably worth the APPPA membership to anyone seriously trying to breed meat chickens. The short version is that...
  4. Paul Ewing

    Ideal's Cornish Rocks vs Cornish X

    BTW: In answer to the original poster's question, I was not happy with the strain of Big White Fast Growing Double Breasted Chickens (BWFGDBCs) that Ideal was sending out a couple years ago compared to the strains of BWFGDBCs that I got from Welp and Meyer. I took a year off from meat birds...
  5. Paul Ewing

    Ideal's Cornish Rocks vs Cornish X

    But what most people process are not broilers, they are most likely roasters (3.5 lbs+) with a few doing fryers (2.5-3.5 lbs). A broiler is under 2.5 pounds which is about what a 6-8 week old heritage breed would have done.
  6. Paul Ewing

    Sponsored Post Chicken Math Strikes Again!

    I always call my orders into the hatcheries. That way I can ask if they have any other specials or if they can put me on a wait list for an earlier ship date if needed and such. All the websites of the hatcheries seem a bit behind on special situations.
  7. Paul Ewing

    Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

    This is a reveiw I wrote of my FF experiment in May and June: I tried this with 32 of my last 120 CX broilers. We are on week 7 of the growout and I have some observations. I normally use 22% chick starter on my birds and feed it through 8 weeks as standard. For the fermented feed test, I...
  8. Paul Ewing

    Do broilers taste as good as good as dual purpose birds?

    Beekissed, what are your birds averaging at 6 weeks? It sounds like you plan to take them to 10 weeks before processing to get 6 pound dressed weights. I like the way my experimental group is doing so far on the FF and I am considering expanding it to another 32 bird group which would put half...
  9. Paul Ewing

    Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

    I just got in 130 CornishX Friday and put aside 32 of them for a FF experiment. I am just using fermented 22% chick starter now, but got bags of oats, barley, cut corn, and milo to start them on in a few days. The chicks really took to the fermented chick starter and it isn't too much more of...
  10. Paul Ewing

    Do broilers taste as good as good as dual purpose birds?

    This is why I no longer mess with dual purpose breeds for meat birds despite people believing the marketing about ho good heritage breed chickens are. The following is part of an email from one of my mixed meat co-op/CSA customers: "The pieced-chickens you gave me last month were much meatier...
  11. Paul Ewing

    Review by '' on item 'Little Giant 3 Gallon Waterer With Metal Handle'

    We bought six of these because they were about five dollars cheaper than the 3.5 gal waterers we had been using. There are several design flaws. 1) The top will turn and lock two ways instead of the usual one direction. The problem is that only one way is "open" and lets water out. You...
  12. Paul Ewing

    Do broilers taste as good as dual purpose birds?

    Personally I like dual purpose cockerels processed at about 16-20 weeks. They have a good flavor and if cooked right are not too tough. That said, I do not do dual purpose birds for customers any more. Despite what they may say about wanting heritage breeds and being told the advantages and...
  13. Paul Ewing

    How often do you buy new chicks?

    Hard to say, we ordered chicks in 6-8 times last year and hatched out another 6-8 batches. Not sure this year. We have started with a hatch of around 65 Buff Orpingtions and Americunas and an order of 100 RIR pullets already and the wife put 100 or so lot of BO eggs in the incubator a week...
  14. Paul Ewing

    Hover Brooder Questions

    I plan to make one this year and will vary the bulbs by the outside temp. I will be putting two in a 4x4 hover for backup more than anything. In temps like now (10-20s F) I would use 250W ones. Moving into later I would replace them with regular 100W bulbs. I buy red lights in the 250W...
  15. Paul Ewing

    Brooder outside?

    We have two 4x4 box brooders like that "outside" now. They are in a 12x8 hoop coop with the back, top, and half the front tarped. this reduces the wind and maybe keeps the temp 5 degree warmer than outside but it is still in the teens currently. We have about 50 two week old chicks in each...
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